Coward
by Shi-Toyu
Summary: The Avengers get called in because Loki is running rampant in New York. Will a shouting match between the God of Mischief and our own Iron Man reveal some closely guarded secrets? FrostIron!


A/N: Ah, FrostIron, how I love thee. I've had this one in my head ever since I saw the second Thor movie. I have another one ready, too. (In my head, not written.) So, if I get a good response, you guys can look forward to that too!

I actually do own The Avengers, that's how I can afford to sit at home all day and write fanfiction. It's not because I work a full time job and stay up all night drinking tea…I swear.

Coward

It was Loki. Of course, it was Loki.

When the Avengers had gotten the call about the havoc going on in Central Park, they jumped at the idea of taking down whoever thought they could cause a ruckus in the superheroes' backyard. True, like the rest of the world's major cities, New York was a prime target for villains. These days, however, most steered clear of the Big Apple because of the simple fact that five heroes lived right at the center. (Thor still spent most of his time on Asgard or with his Lady Jane.)

The punishment for encroaching upon their territory was swift and total defeat. Even The Other Guy seemed to take a particular offence to when the fight was in their hometown. Having them all move into Avengers Tower was one of the best moves ever made for the safety of New York.

They'd suited up and made it to the park in less than ten minutes to find Loki blowing up statues from his position at the middle of the frozen lake. Since it was the middle of summer, they figured the lake was probably his fault, too. Captain America wasted little time is calling out his orders.

"Hawkeye, Black Widow! You two are with me, getting civilians off of that lake and out of the park! Dr. Banner, I'd like to keep your companion out of this for a bit longer. Coordinate with emergency services to set up a triage unit for the injured! Radio us when you've got a location and we'll bring them to you. Iron Man and Thor, I want you to distract and detain Loki. At the very least, keep him from blowing up more statues."

"Not a problem, Cap! Let's go get your brother, Point Break."

Tony and Thor flashed past above them and Steve set to work getting the civilians out of the park. He was glad to see Tony joking around and using their nicknames. He'd been quiet all day and they were all worried about him. It generally took something pretty serious to shut the billionaire up. He'd already made the resolution to call the man's assistant if he didn't perk up by the end of the day.

Tony and Pepper had broken up soon after the invasion incident, almost two years ago, but they remained good friends and she always knew what was going on with him. She could get through to the man when no one else could. If anything, their break up had only made their bond stronger. Luckily, it seemed as though her involvement wouldn't be necessary on this matter.

It didn't take Bruce long to set up the triage unit with the authorities and soon they were moving civilians in that direction. Very few had been injured, amazingly, and those who had been were mostly scrapes and bruises. One woman had twisted her ankle by tripping over a root, but that was the worst of the injuries. Steve figured she'd be fine after she'd tried to cop a feel while he was carrying her out of the park.

What was wrong with this century?

Clint had scaled a nearby building and was calling out the location of civilians throughout the park for Steve and Natasha to retrieve. All in all, things seemed to be going pretty smoothly…it made him suspicious. With Loki, things never went smoothly.

It was Thor who called over the com link that things had taken a downward turn. It seemed Loki had decided to turn from blowing up statues to taking his issues out on Tony.

"My brother and the Man of Iron have crashed into the lobby of the tall building near the park's entrance. I have rarely seen my brother this enraged! I do not know what happened, but I will likely need assistance in taking him down."

Thor did not often call for help but when he did, they took him seriously. Steve and Natasha moved towards his position while Clint made his way across the roof tops. Bruce's voice crackled through the radio.

"Do you need me?"

"Let's not make that move quite yet. Move towards the coordinates, but don't make the change until we're sure we need it."

Bruce gave his affirmative as the building came into sight. A hole was all that was left of the entry way and Thor touched down right in front of the assassin and the soldier. Clint arrived moments later, repelling down from the heights of the city. The entire area was littered with glass and rubble.

"Alright, let's move in. I want Loki out of this building as soon as possible, there's no telling how many civilians are in those upper floors and we can't afford it coming down with them inside. The goal here is to get Loki back to the park with a little damage to the surrounding area as possible. We'll capture him there."

With nods from the rest of the team, they moved in.

It wasn't hard to find their teammate and the god. They stood opposite each other at the back of the lobby, covered in dust and debris. Loki's hair was mussed from the crash and his cape was tattered. One long tear ran down the side of his pants. The air crackled with tension. They weren't blowing things up, which was good, but they were having a rather heated shouting match. The rest of The Avengers paused, not sure what to do.

"Do not attempt to belittle me with your petty insults, Stark! Your inventions are nothing compared to the power at my command!"

"Hey, this suit is awesome! Bio-propulsion technology, clean energy, it's a work of genius! Besides, I don't see you winning any fights here! Last I checked, The Avengers had taken apart every one of your schemes!"

"Because they were meant to be that way, as _you_ should know! Believe me, if I were to actually try and take over this pathetic world, you and your precious team wouldn't stand a chance!"

Ok…this argument was officially getting weird…Steve glanced around at the other Avengers to find equally confused looks on their faces. He caught a glance of Bruce sidling into the lobby and gave a shrug at the man's confused look. None of them were quite sure how to proceed with this.

"Oh, I'm _sure_. I could take you down by myself! You wouldn't stand a chance against this suit!"

"Oh, yes…It's always the suit, isn't it? How could I forget? There's nothing more important that that! What good are you without it, though? Your money and brain are merely crutches to hide your insecurities and stave off the boredom! Without that suit, you fear your _Avengers_," he spat out the word, "will leave you. The public will forget about you as anything other than a mindless drunk, wasting his days away with parties! You hide behind that piece of junk metal like the coward you are!"

There was a pregnant pause and Steve could almost feel the anger rising off of Tony. This…was not going to end well. When Tony spoke again, it was low and dangerous, the kind of tone that meant the man was deadly serious. This was the Tony that survived being kidnapped and tortured in Afghanistan. This was the Tony that dragged himself, dying across his house to replace the arc reactor when Stane had removed it. It was the Tony that meant business.

"Jarvis, disengage."

Steve almost rushed forward when he heard the whirs and clicks that meant the Iron Man suit was unwrapping itself from Tony's body, but a hand on his arm made his pause. Bruce was staring at him with knowing eyes and gave a quick shake of his head.

The suit folded up into a briefcase and Tony tossed it to the side with a carelessness they'd never seen before in reference to his invention. Outside of experiments, it was treated as though it was made of glass. The shorter man then stalked across the lobby and got right up in Loki's face, fists balled at his sides in anger.

"Oh, I'm a coward? _I'm_ a coward?! I wasn't the one who teleported out of the bed last night when I told him I loved him!"

…What? Steve's mind short circuited for a moment and he was sure he'd misheard that last bit. Loki, on the other hand, didn't blink and only seemed to get angrier.

"I will not allow myself to be _mocked_ in such a situation, mortal. I should never have allowed myself to give in to such carnal desires."

Dimly, Steve heard Bruce telling Hawkeye that the archer owed him eighty bucks and a left sock, but was too busy trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Tony and Loki were apparently sleeping together. And Tony…loved him?

"Mocked? Mocked?! Trust me, Reindeer Games, I've had enough one night stands in my life to know better than to mock someone like that. I'm not your _dad_, you bastard! When I say I love you, I fuckin' mean it!"

"Do you really expect me to believe that? I am your enemy, a monster. You cannot love me."

The words were sneered, but a slight hitch in Loki's voice as he said the word 'cannot' revealed the hidden emotion he felt. Tony's face softened and he seemed to settle his anger a bit.

"How many times, Loki?"

His voice was soft, almost amused. It was also fond in a way that Steve had never heard from the genius. Loki, however, didn't seem to notice his tone.

"How many times what? Has that ridiculous technology finally fried your pitiful brain?"

Tony took a step closer, bringing himself almost nose to nose with the Asgardian.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you're not a monster? You are brilliant and wickedly clever. You're gorgeous. Yeah, you like to play tricks, but that's all they are. You are not evil."

Loki's expression was pained.

"I have killed…_so_ many people…"

"You didn't have a choice, love. What the Chitauri did to you…What _Thanos_ did to you…I would not have been able to sabotage their plan like you did. You _saved _Earth, Loki, while making both sides believe you wanted to rule it. No one else could have done that. It was amazing!"

Steve glanced at the other Avengers, looking for some sign that this made sense to any of them. His confusion, though, seemed to mirror theirs with the exception of Bruce. He was smiling and nodding as Tony talked, sending the other man silent encouragement that went unnoticed. Thor looked almost hopeful.

Turning back to the couple(?), Steve noticed Loki's almost embarrassed expression.

"I am not worthy of your praise…You exaggerate my abilities."

"Now who's got their brain fried? Loki, look at me."

Tony reached out and placed a hand on either side of Loki's face, turning it to look at him. Their faces were just inches apart.

"Loki Odinson, born of Jotunheim and raised of Asgard, you are the most amazing being I have ever met and every moment I spend without you is spent wishing you were by my side. You are brave and fierce and possess one of the greatest minds I have ever had the pleasure of interacting with. You make me happier than anyone I've ever met and I plan to be with you until the day I die, if I have to stalk you to do it. I love you, and that's something you should never doubt."

The moment that passed after Tony's speech seemed to span forever. Steve held his breath right along with the billionaire, awaiting Loki's response. The sincerity in Tony's voice and on his face made the Captain believe every word he said.

A smile finally cracked through Loki's mask, sending the rest of it crashing down. His eyes softened and he lifted his hands to rest on Tony's waist.

"And I love you, Anthony Stark, though I do not know why."

Tony suddenly pulled back, looking insulted. He opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by Loki kissing him, the God of Mischief laughing into his mouth. His smile did not falter when the kiss broke.

"You are much too easy, Tony. However are you going to survive when I have you so well figured out?"

"I suppose," Tony pressed up close to the god and reached under the cape to grab his ass, "I'll have to keep you distracted…"

"Aaaaand _that's_ going to be quite enough, thank you! I'd rather not have to bleach my eyes out, if it's all the same to you guys."

The two men jumped apart and turned to stare at the team, apparently not having noticed their entry.

"C-Clint?! Guys? How long have you been there?"

Bruce smirked.

"Long enough."

"Brother!" Thor rushed forward to wrap the other Asgardian in a bone-crushing hug, much to the other's obvious distaste. "I am so happy to hear of your attachment to the Man of Iron! Is it true, then? Had you no plans to conquer Midgard?"

Loki scoffed and shoved the blonde away, patting down his clothes as it to rid them of dirt.

"Obviously. Had I wanted to rule over this pathetic world, I would be king by now. My only way to escape my Chitauri jailors was to swear an oath to try and get them the Tesseract. There were holes in that world domination plan large enough for all of Jotunheim to fit through. I was horrified it took you so long to defeat me." His eyes slid over to glance at Tony. "Though, it wasn't a complete waste of time."

The genius smiled dopily before switching to a smirk for the team.

"So, I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh? Do I have to go on the run now or are we all cool? Cause being a super villain sounds fun and all, but I like you guys and I'd hate to have to change the name of the tower…again."

The other's all looked at Steve, obviously leaving the decision to him. Why? Why did he have to be the one to deal with this? It was moments like these that made him sometimes wish he were still frozen in the ice. How uncomplicated life had been then…

"You say he's not evil?"

"He saved the world."

"Then I don't see what the problem is. Fury may have a different opinion, but that's SHIELD's problem. As far as The Avengers are concerned, it's just a hero with another hero."

He was so glad Natasha had sat him down for that talk about the Gay Rights Movement and how homosexuality was widely accepted in this century. This conversation would have been so much more awkward without it.

Bruce crossed the lobby to clap Tony on the shoulder.

"And _you_ owe me a lifetime's supply of shawarma along with a pair of purple pants. I told you things would work out."

Clint was all over that one.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you _knew?!_ Uh, uh! That makes our bet totally invalid! That's like…insider trading! I'm not giving you a penny, Martha Stewart!"

And so that was how Loki joined The Avengers, in a dust covered lobby amid the incredulous shouts of an assassin and the joyful thundering of a Norse god, his lover beside him and bright possibilities in the future.

Steve had to wonder, would it make him a coward if he sent Natasha to fill Fury in on these new developments?

A/N: The end! So, how did you all like it? I'm not sure how, but this somehow turned out to be from Steve's PoV. Worked out okay, though. Please review! I like to know what people think! Oh, and let me know if you want another one!


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